DAP meeting notes from December 16, 2013

NO MEETING DECEMBER 23RD FOR OBVIOUS REASONS. NEXT MEETING WILL BE MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2013, AGAIN AT GINNY'S HOUSE, 3922 PARTRIDGE IN THE WINDSOR HILLS NEIGHBORHOOD, 6:00 - 8:00 P.M. AS USUAL.

Six people met on the sixteenth.

The group okayed January 25th for our hosting of the Progressive Partners quarterly meeting. Liz arranged for the facilities at the DMBWindsorNeighborhoodCenter again, as last April. John sent in the $45 fee and $100 security deposit (returned as long as we leave the premises neat and clean). The tentative lineup will be 10:00 a.m. to noon, reports, Q&A, planning from each group present; lunch from noon to 1:00 with informal interchange; and a program from 1:00 to 2:00 (probably something from Marcia on messaging, Lakoff theory, etc). Yet to be decided is whether to have a simple BYO sack or box lunch or another potluck as we usually have. We should plan to provide coffee, tea, water, soda, juice, etc., and maybe a selection from Windsor Breads. Marcia, please put these final touches discussion on the agenda for the next meeting.

A message from Beth Trotter alerted us to the fact that there will be a Windsor vacancy on the DeForest Area School District (DASD) Board this coming election. The Windsor Rep is not running for re-election. There are also two other spots up for election, and the incumbents are running again. Please, some-DAP-per from Windsor run! Remember, tea partiers are watching too.

Most of the meeting was occupied with a very informative conversation with Brita Olsen, Political Director for the Wisconsin Democratic Party. Brita is only a few months into the job, but she has other experience with the party. She has lived for ten years in Madison, having graduated from the UW-Madison, and is originally from Manitowoc. She spoke about fundraising, the three regions that have been established to implement the "72 county strategy," and a unique "Red to Blue" project to take back some tough districts from the Republicans. Brita said that Dems in Wisconsin should not be discouraged, recognizing the facts that Democratic Party membership in Wisconsin has doubled in recent years. The party has many more trained and experienced activists in place than ever before, much due to the organizing efforts of OFA and such in the last few years. She expressed confidence that we can "go after" Walker in a meaningful way and succeed. When pressed to identify three main ideas, she named 1) Medicaid/BadgerCare, 2) women's health, and 3) student loan debt. Of course, limiting her to three topics was unfair, as we discussed many more than that, all of which we do not have space here to detail. We all look forward to seeing more of Brita in the near future.

We also discussed a resolution opposing frack sand mining being sponsored by the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice and the Madison Action for Mining Alternatives (MAMA). All DAP in attendance approved signing on in support of the resolution.

Marcia provided copies of the Wisconsin Grassroots Network's "NEWSPAPER DIRECTORY." As part of the letters-to-the-editors project, each of us who writes letters should provide to Marcia whom we write to, when, and a summary of the topic.